


Here For You

by camichats



Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [68]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 17:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15320208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: James gets some upsetting news.





	Here For You

 

James was sat on the couch in their flat, face blank and a letter crumpled in his hands. Sirius was going to be home soon, and James was going to have to tell him that Mum and Dad had caught dragon pox. It was treatable, but only people in the prime of their lives survived it. His parents' hair was shot completely white (for his mother) and grey (for his father), and they didn't get that way prematurely. They were old and tired easily. When James had gone out with them as a child, people thought they were his grandparents.    
  
Sirius wasn't going to take this well, James was thinking as he started putting an overnight bag together. His mind fuzzed out as he packed until, next thing he knew, he was back to sitting on the couch. The letter telling him the news was shoved in his coat pocket, and he waited for Sirius to come home, feeling incredibly numb.    
  
He didn't even notice when Sirius came in the front door. One minute he was staring at the coffee table, the next Sirius was kneeling in front of him, looking concerned.    
  
"James," Sirius repeated-- because it was clear it wasn't the first time he tried to get his attention by saying his name. "What's wrong? What's with the bag?"    
  
James looked down at it, mind struggling to get the reasoning into words. His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and he wasn't sure he actually knew any words at the moment. "Mum and Dad."    
  
"Are they okay? What happened?"    
  
"Er." His brow furrowed as he tried to remember. "Sick. They got sick. Dragon pox."    
  
Sirius looked stricken. "What did the healer say?"    
  
James shrugged with one shoulder. He wasn't settling too well into his bones right now-- it was strange. "Couple weeks."    
  
Sirius moved to sit beside him on the couch, one hand rubbing his back, the other resting on his knee. "Do you want to go see them, or do you want to stay here for a little bit?"    
  
He shrugged again.    
  
"Why don't we stay here? Just for a minute." Sirius's voice was low and soothing, and it made James feel warm and comforted even though he hadn't known that was what he needed-- or even that he would be okay with it happening.    
  
"Okay," he mumbled, leaning into Sirius. He turned his face into his shoulder when his eyes felt hot. His nose felt stuffy and it was hard to breathe, and he was sobbing as Sirius held him tight.    
  
It took some time for him to taper off, and when he glanced up, he saw that Sirius's eyes were wet too. "Sorry." He sniffled and wiped at his face. At some point, Sirius had taken off his glasses and set them on the table for him. "You okay?"    
  
Sirius smiled sadly. "I will be, same as you, love."    
  
"I don't feel okay." He felt a little more sure-footed now, but not anywhere near where he normally was. It was as good as he could be expected to feel though.    
  
Sirius pet a hand through his hair. "I know. It's okay to be very very not okay right now. Let's get cleaned up though, and go see them, yeah?"    
  
He started to wobble again, and he shook his head vigorously. "I don't want to."    
  
"Why not?" He was careful to keep any accusation clear from his voice.    
  
"Because if I see them, it's going to be real. I don't want it to be real. If we go see them, they're going to be sick, and they're never going to be better." He shook his head again. "I can't do that."    
  
"It's going to be hard. It's going to suck, but they want to see you, James. We can't just stay away."    
  
James wiped harshly at his face. "Okay."    
  
"And if you want to get pissed when we get back home so you can forget about it for a little bit, we'll do that."

“Okay.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a prompt driven blog @[imaginejamesandsirius](https://imaginejamesandsirius.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Feel free to drop by!


End file.
